NDCC

Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA): Significant Change on the Horizon

Philippine President Duterte has recently forwarded notice to the United States (U.S.) his decision to terminate the current Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that has been in effect since 1999. This long-standing agreement is scheduled to renew or expire in August 2020.  The concerns expressed by many -for or against this action- address many opinions of which I will try to…


Can the Laguna Lake Spillway Be Done?

Very early on Wednesday, 18 July, while enroute from Dasmariñas City to my office in Makati, I was mentally debating what specific topic I would address for this issue of the Review. Three major issues our Advocates for National Interests (ANI) group would like to delve on initially are: (1) the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), (2) the West Philippine Sea…


Disaster Risk Management Initiatives

Introduction Living in today’s “uncertainties of boom or bust economies, global climate change, rapid urbanization, technological advancement, and continuing war on poverty or terrorism present a lot of risk necessitating people to prevent the occurrence or mitigate its impact.” However, when there is extreme danger ahead, we must prepare to accept reality and respond accordingly. This has been explained as…